SASCOC and World Games team honour Madiba

SASCOC and the 2013 World Games team for Colombia did their bit for Madiba Day in Soweto on Friday.

The team depart on the long slog to South America on Saturday evening but took time out to do their bit in appreciation of former President Nelson Madiba’s 95th birthday which was on Thursday.

Their gesture of goodwill came a day after Madiba’s birthday as the team only assembled for the holding camp on Friday.

The team travelled to the Takalani Home for the Mentally Disabled near the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.

There, they presented delighted residents to gifts of blankets, food hampers, meat and fruit and vegetables. There was also a 95th birthday cake, iced with an image of Madiba .

Matron Cristina Mkhasibe welcomed members of SASCOc and the World Games team. “We always see sports stars like you on television when they leave or return to South Africa. It’s so good to see you all here at Takalani.”

The home is a sanctuary residents ranging from the age of five to just over 30 years old.

“It’s great to continue the tradition of giving 67 minutes of our time to honor Tata Madiba,” said SASCOC President Gideon Sam. “It was great to see the kids’ faces light up. SASCOC are often targets for bad publicity but it’s occasions like that this that will hopefully go some way to seeing what we do in the world of sport.”

The team have a farewell banquet in Boksburg on Friday night and jet off for Cali on Saturday evening. The Games start on 25 July and end on 4 August. Nine sporting codes will be contested by Team SA, made up of roughly 40 athletes.